Saturday, 27 March 2010

Update on The First UK Underground Farmers & Craft Market

On the 28th March The Underground Restaurant will be hosting the first Underground Farmers & Craft Market in the United Kingdom. There's been one in San Francisco started by Iso Rabins which was a tremendous success. They've just had their third underground farmer's market and there will be a conference 'Kitchen Table Talks' on the 29th of March in San Francisco with the movers and shakers of the SF underground food movement.

I want to encourage first timers, locavores and quirky Londoners to come and sell their wares (free for stallholders)...it's gonna be a mashup between an edgy cool entrepreneurial anti-establishment anarchist fair, Borough market and...a school fete!

This is also a fantastic opportunity to meet some supperclub hosts and hostesses outside of their dinners, giving you a chance to chat to them.

There will be tastings and a cooking demo by MsMarmitelover...how to make mini focaccia shots...then we will eat them hot out of the Aga.

Other demonstrations include a talk on making cheese in Peckham airing cupboards by @handyface, basket weaving with Terence McSweeney (who will also show kids how to make little woven fish for £2), wine tasting with tengreenbottles.com....

Do bring cash to buy things as no credit card facilities will be here...however there is a cashpoint machine at the nearest tube.

Euroburner Emily of House of Chutney will be sellingPeach Date & Chilli, Beetroot & Orange and Spiced Tomato chutneys with tempero, a garlic seasoning (pictured below). They talked 'chutney chat' about the Underground Farmers & Craft Market on Resonance FM with George Barker at 9pm on 19th March.

This event is listed, along with other farmers markets and food events around Britain on Henrietta Green's site: Food Lovers Britain

This list will be updated as more people contact me to sell their stuff... and if anyone would like to run a workshop, to teach a food/craft related skill, please get in touch marmitelover@mac.com

Many people make great produce at home, but do not have a commercial kitchen. They are often intimidated by high startup prices and the commitment of a conventional farmers market. This Underground farmer's market is an opportunity for them to test the waters, sell what they make. I'm not charging stallholders...which is a reversal of the usual thing where stallholders pay and the punters come in for free. But I want to encourage people who may not have done a stall before...therefore the goods will be unique and individual not just the usual suspects! But guests pay £5.50 entry fee which will be well worth it as I'm sure you can see...via http://www.wegottickets.com/event/68711 If you book a ticket and last minute, some friends or family want to accompany you...they can pay on the door.

hi Erin: yes no problem, we'll find a place. I'm very near Kilburn tube and Brondesbury overground...exact address is sent after you've bought a ticket on wegottickets.comKrista: hope to see youCardinalagogo: email me at marmitelover@mac.comHello: of course you can (got any non meat pies for veggies?)Curious cat: you know the address ect so just come but for security reasons I'm mostly selling the tickets via the website

This sounds great....it is still possible to do a stall, or are all the places full? I make knitwear..flower brooches, berets, Shetland Lace scarves, I am doing a stall at Hampstead Community Market the week before. How can I contact you for further info?(My real name is Jane Ennis)

My least favorite is looks great, can't wait to try this. Sometimes there are hundreds of these and not a single one about whether or not the recipe is a complete waste of time. Why comment if you haven't tried it? Come back when you have something useful to share.

Get Started In Food Writing

V is for Vegan

MsMarmiteLover's Secret Tea Party

Supper Club: recipes and notes from the underground restaurant

@msmarmitelover on Twitter

"The hundreds of diners who've attended one of Rodgers's supper clubs (aka MsMarmitelover, she is one of the pioneers of the movement in the UK) will be able to confirm, between satisfied burps, that she cooks the kind of food that people really want to eat. This is a beautifully designed collection of some of her most successful menus. Resistance is futile."

The Guardian on Supper Club: recipes and notes from the underground restaurant (Dec 2011)